This Day In European History

17th January

Events
1377: The Papacy returns to Rome from Avignon.
1562: The Edict of St. Germain allows the Huguenot (French Protestant) Church to exist; it is fiercely resisted and the French Wars of Religion ensue.
1595: France declares war on Spain over the issue of succession to the formers throne.
1800: The Treaty of Montlucon ends royalist rebellion in the Vendee, West France.
1966: An air accident causes four nuclear bombs to drop near the Spanish town of Palomares; two leak radioactive material, one is intact and the fourth is lost for over two months.

Births
1342: Duke Philip II of Burgundy.
1463: Elector Frederick III of Saxony, protector of Martin Luther.
1501: Leonhard Fuchs, German physician and botanist.
1504: Pope Pius V.
1545: Georg Spalatin, German writer.
1560: Gaspard Bauhin, Swiss anatomist and botanist.
1600: Pedro Calderon de la Barca, Spanish playwright.
1612: Thomas Fairfax, English parliamentarian commander.
1820: Anna Bronte, British writer and youngest Bronte sister.
1834: August Weismann, German biologist.
1863: David Lloyd George, British prime minister.
1863: Konstantin Stanislavsky, Russian theatre actor and director.

Deaths
395: Roman and Byzantine Emperor Theodosius I.
1598: Tsar Fyodor I of Russia, last of the Rurikid dynasty.
1705: John Ray, English taxonomer.

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